Fruit & Nut Mini Panettone (with sponge)

I've heard of panettone (aka Italian sweet bread) but sad to say, I have never tried them before, even commercially bought ones. But there's always a first time right?

I'm no expert but I'm glad Susan is and decided to use her chocolate panettone recipe which she specially made for her non-fruity daughter!!

Decided to make some to give away as gifts for this holiday season. I had earlier macerated some fruits with rum with the intention of using them for a fruit cake but since I was running out of time, decided to use them to make a fruit and nut panettone instead.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any tall special molds for the pannetone so I settled for mini ones using muffin cases. I'd guess with all the celebrations, friends just appreciate the thought of it without too much indulgence!! ;)

Adapted recipe
(Yields 12 mini/muffin panettone, weighing about 90g each)

For sponge
200 g bread flour
106 g water
1 tsp instant yeast
33g caster sugar

For final dough
188 g bread flour
55 g cold milk
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp instant yeast
55 g egg yolks (about 3 small eggs)
All of the sponge
scraped seeds from 1/2 of a vanilla bean
50 g fine granulated sugar
69 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
200g mix fruits (golden raisins, brown raisins and cranberries) soaked in 1/4 cup of rum for 2-3 days (longer if you can)
100g Walnuts, roasted and chopped

For glaze
1 egg
40g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pearl sugar as sprinkle toppings (optional)

1. To make the sponge, mix all the ingredients together until just combined and set aside to ferment in room temperature for 2 hours.



2. For final dough, mix all ingredients together except for sugar, butter, fruits and nuts. Knead for 5 min then add sugar slowly in about 4 or 5 increments. Continue to mix for another 5 min then add all the butter.



3. Mix until dough is pliable, then mix in the nuts and fruits.



4. Place dough in a greased contained and rest for 10 min. Divide and rest for another 30 min.



5. Prepare muffin case by placing a skewer (soaked in water for a few min so that it doesn't burn in the oven).



6. Shape the dough into tight balls and place into molds. Pat down gently so that it covers the base evenly and properly.
   
   



7. Proof dough covered for about 3.5 hours or until the dough doubles in volume.



8. For the glaze, whisk all the ingredients together and brush on top of loaves.



9. Bake for 20-25 min in preheated oven at 170 degrees.



10. Check after 10 min whether the tops are brown, if so don on a tent to prevent tops from burning.



11. When bread is done, hang them upside down as quickly as possible.
    
    Yeah I know they look a little odd, everyone who came into the kitchen were rather intrigued by the sight that greeted them!!
    
    Susan explains the reason for the bat-like panettone is to prevent the baked bread from caving in when it comes out of the oven.



12. Allow panettone to cool in that position for at least 2 hours.
    
    I was quite happy with the panettone and now to spread some Xmas cheer by sharing them with friends and loved ones.

Everyone who tasted them said that they were nice, much better than commercially bought ones which tend to be dry. I'll take that as a compliment! I'm very happy to make this quick panettone version as the traditional pannetone is rather time consuming and will be submitting them for yeast sporting to let Susan know that I tried her recipe and it came out well. Tks again Susan!!